Vigor@President s Office Location: Hong Kong The story of Vigor@President s Office at Walking Challenge WE started our participation in the Walking Challenge since 2017 when it was first launched. It was enjoyable for everyone taking part in the exercise that really arouse our sensitivity to walking more and to stay healthier. Ian was the only male member in our team. We were glad that he joined us for fun in this game. His amazing step counts had been a driving force for us not to slow down, though we could never be able to catch him up. 2017 Walking Challenge: Vigor@PResident s Office Emotionally, his was our team leader because every week we would look forward to knowing how many steps he had taken and the number was always striking. 2018 Walking Chanllenge: Vigor@President's Office (part of team) WE are happy to see the Walking Challenge campaign in 2018 flourished with increasing number of participants and incredible record of steps count all together the walkers have made. And we are thrilled to be part of it. Our team largely remain the same as last year yet with two additional new blood from the Senior Management Team, Paul (Acting President and Provost) and John (VP Global), who are members of our office, strictly speaking.
We differ in backgrounds, living styles and most particularly the daily schedules that shape our exercise patterns and delivery of step count differently. However, we united in the same spirit to do our best for the team. In order to make the game more fun, I would present the results of members weekly step count and share the information with them. Those who ranked in the top 1 or 2 would get a little gift as an encouragement. Our members, however, do not care what gift they would receive but are becoming more conscious to walk longer and finish strong. Some of my members told me that every week they are expecting eagerly to know their ranking in the group as well as that in the overall results across all teams in the University. Ian has been in the lead in our team throughout the month. His highest daily step count was recorded over 35,000 steps. It is very encouraging to see our team s ranking in both categories: highest average steps and highest total steps have been on the rise in the leaderboard. Thanks to our most active walkers in the team who have unintentionally yet indirectly motivated other members to make progress. Some of our female members also did amazingly that they spent extra time and efforts to walk more than usual either by shopping longer, or walking stairs instead of taking escalators, going to the park for a walk on Smiling faces of our active females member receiving their little reward for their impressive step counts
daily basis and even strolling at home to make up the steps. On the other note, I appreciate very much the participation of our senior management members who are heavily tied up by meetings and official engagements, still shown their great devotion to play the game at their best. All in all, so much fun and gain in this wonderful initiative. The awareness to keeping a healthy life by walking more has been achieved, so to speak.
武隊 Location: Hong Kong Around the World Walking Challenge Our team of 10 friends, ranging in age from the young to a couple of septuagenarian grandparents, can be regarded as a microcosm of HKU's community. Our interests are diverse, ranging from literary to martial arts, but the ultimate interest that binds us together is our common goal of staying active and healthy. Although we hold different jobs in HKU ranging from the physically active to the more sedentary paperpushing desk jobs which span different faculties and facilities, we have formed a strong and lasting friendship from our quest for a healthy lifestyle. Our group started over 10 years ago with a few of us forming a Taichi group practising taichi chuan, different forms of martial arts, and mindfulness exercises every morning at the Chong Yuet Ming Fountain before work. It was through this daily exercise that some colleagues saw us having "fun" on their way to work. Our exercise group grew in size and a strong relationship was formed. There was always free exchange of knowledge, the more experienced giving the
novice pointers. Exchange of knowledge and advice is not limited to exercise only. Since our group is made up of a diverse group of people of different expertise, there are always good exchange of ideas and advice when it is needed. It is truly a friendship that has no boundaries. When some of us saw the "Around the World" Walking Challenge posted at IHP Active, we decided to join "for fun". Ideas were thrown around for a name for our group. Finally, we settled on 武隊 for our team to reflect the diversity of our expertise and interests ( and 武 ). Our initial goal was 10,000+ steps per day. The problem was our team was made up of a spectrum of "super active" members who already easily log in 20,000 steps normally, to others who only walk less than 5,000 steps per day due to their jobs and after work lifestyle; this is way short of the 10,000 steps recommended by the American Heart Association. Since we are now counting our steps, for those of us "non walkers", the goal of 10,000 steps per day posed a challenge. As this is teamwork, we the "non walkers" did not want to let the team down too much. So the challenge was on to keep up with each other. Activities and walking increased. "Cruising" at 10,000 steps became more bearable for the non walkers towards the end of the first 10 days. Then the first results were in. Shocker! Our team was ranked #4! Disbelief and elation! Now we felt like we needed to walk a little more daily to keep that position. Steps were increased. The second results came in #2! Congratulations and high fives all around. Then realization struck. It is highly possible that we may be able to keep the #2 place as by this time walking was no longer laborious. It was fun, and more steps were quite easily attainable. We found new routes to make walking interesting and pleasurable. Routes were mapped out to walk home from HKU after work; looking for new trails in Country Parks, to the beach and up to the Peak, climbing up High West behind HKU; and finding that Hong Kong and Kowloon skylines are truly spectacular in the evening, especially one evening when it was clear and it was full moon. It was then that many of the nonwalkers attained 20,000+ steps, and then 30,000+ steps. Phrases like My best day! I reached 30,000+ steps today, and me too. I reached 30,000 steps appeared in our group WhatsApp. I reached 50,000+ steps and later 60,000+ steps were greeted with huge Wah!. Ultimately finally I achieved a total of one million steps by our super walker was greeted with congratulations and joy. That was great achievement. The most touching part was when the super walkers told the oldies and the non walkers not to stress themselves too much and to leave the extra walking to them. However, the old and frail did not see it this way. Don't be so condescending, they said! We are just as capable as the next younger person! So now the challenge was on to show them that we can perform just as good! We walked individually, in pairs or groups in the morning, at lunch in the campus, and walked home or part of the way after work. Stronger bonds were formed. Not only have our friendship and bonding flourished during this period, there has also been an increase in bonding with family members: hiking
with family during weekends; out walking with daughter after dinner most evenings during which much information was shared; taking kids to Disney Land during weekends so kids can enjoy the rides while daddy logs in his steps. It was truly touching when a daughter asked her mother whether they could still take a walk after dinner when the Walking Challenge was over as she was enjoying their time together. All our members felt that this was indeed an extremely rewarding experience. Not only did we look after each other during this past month during the Challenge, team performance meant more to us than individual performance. Achievement is by the Team and not by the individual. This is real team spirit. Most of us felt like we have attained a life time experience through this exercise. Not only can we reach a higher activity level so that 10,000 steps is no longer a chore, we walked more each day, telling ourselves that we can now easily reach 10,000 steps if not 20,000 steps. We have developed habits of walking to places instead of catching public transportation. The greatest benefit which we have experienced from this exercise is that most of us feel fitter and we even have some team members remarking that their blood pressure has decreased. An unexpected achievement was the amount of interest generated by retirees and home makers living in the vicinity of the campus. They walk to Chong Yuet Ming Fountain for their daily morning exercise. They saw how happy we were, how we shared our walking experience, and where we walked. We were asked questions like how far and how long did it take you to walk to Central and which is the best route ; what about to the Peak ; and how to get to Conduit Path. and there are wild pigs aren t there?. Then the next day, a retiree told one of us that he walked to Central and it was about 30,000+ steps and one lady said it took her about 30 minutes. We find that we have really achieved something by stimulating interest in the community to take more steps themselves rather than relying on public transport. Thank you Centre for Sports and Exercise for a great and meaningful experience!
Jogging Walking Location: Hong Kong Jogging Walking was formed right after the previous Exercise is Medicine (EIM) progarmme held in October 2017. Our teammates are from different departments and even though extended to family members. First of all, we would like to thank CSE to run such a nice programme to increase our physical activity. After finished the EIM programme in October, we keep walking or running to the Peak during lunch time or after work for the past few months (two to three time a week, from November 2017 to March 2018). This exercise builds up our team relationship and we all enjoy being with others every time, we treat others like our family members. Opening Ceremony for Walking Challenge
Apart from having exercise in CSE, we organized few activities within our team, like BBQ, hiking over Hong Kong and Shenzhen we play, we eat, we share happiness and unhappiness. Hiking in Fanling (May 2018) In April, we knew that EIM was coming and we missed the Walking Challenge last time and we decided to join the programme this time, indeed it was difficult to form a team to have 10 members as we have more than that in our group, we would like to include every of us. The idea for us to join the HKU Walking Challenge was that we would like to support the CES events and we want to show colleagues/students that Keep doing exercise, Away from medicine. Our team has a slogan No pressure, just enjoy your walk. The most important thing we get from the programme is that we strongly build up our team spirit. For the first 10 days, we already knew that we achieved our goal and we do get what we desire We already succeed, we won the Friendship! BBQ gathering in Ma Wan (April 2018) **************<WE LOVE HKU, WE LOVE CSE, WE LOVE OUR TEAM MEMBERS!!!>**********
Department of Health Location: Hong Kong Exercise is good for health - physically, mentally and socially. Inspired by the Director of Health, Department of Health supported the HKU Walking Challenge : Around the World by forming 25 teams comprising a total of 206 participants from various grades. Together we achieved 59,468,794 steps, with an average of 9,312 steps per person every day. Some 75 staff are awarded 300K club membership and 11 attain the 500K status. We thoroughly enjoyed walking our talk and practising our advocacy for healthy living.
Toronto Walkers Location: Toronto, Canada Front row from left to right: Edmond Cheng Lai Ying Elza Lee Suk Hing Lilian Ma Alice Chow Hoi Yan Wendy Lam Man Ying Kwan Tak Ching Back row from left to right: Steve Fung Suet Ming Pong Hin Ki (Captain) Jimmy Tang Chi Man Christopher Tam Ka Hung Gathered together by Christopher Tam, members and family of the Table Tennis Interest Group of the HKU Alumni Association of Ontario formed a team of 10 to participate in the Walking Challenge. Within a short time, a captain was selected and a Google Spreadsheet was set up to record the steps made by each team member. With each other's support and encouragement, we all continued to push ourselves to the limit in order to take more steps and achieve better health for ourselves. More importantly, we established a habit of walking and exercising on daily basis. Our members would like to share their stories with you below: "I enjoy being challenged. I also love to exercise. As a healthcare professional, I know first hand that it is difficult to motivate my patients to exercise and improve their personal health. When I saw the HKU walking challenge, I jumped at the opportunity to join so that I could literally "walk the talk." I approached a few of our alumni to take up the challenge. Luckily, more showed up voluntarily and the group was formed within 24 hours. I was hoping to be a 300k member and also challenged my friends to push themselves to become a 300k member. Now, most of us are proud members of this 300k club and one even challenged the rest of us to take this to another level to walk until our group accumulates enough steps to walk around the world! I think we are ready. Christopher Tam Ka Hung 譚嘉雄 M.B.B.S 84"
" The walking challenge has been a game changer to do something for my sedentary life style after work which is sitting down to watch TV after a day of sitting and watching the screen at work. At 72, I have to push myself to move and walk more. So going out to play golf on the weekend or after work did the trick. I am the lowest scoring member, yet I am not unhappy and vow to keep this up even after June 1. Lilian Ma 馬欣欣, BSc 1967" "Being a retiree, I have been leading a healthy life style for many years. Birding at parks, playing table tennis and practising Tai Chi are almost my day to day activities. Joining the Walking Challenge programme has enabled me to visualize the level of physical activities which I achieve when compared to my teammates. The team has motivated me to walk more and exercise more when I noticed my steps were behind the team average. A small increment in steps is a great achievement in keeping me in good shape! Although the Walking Challenge has come to an end, the good practice will keep going on for me! 正是 : 腳下衆小歩, 健康一大歩! Pong Hin Ki 龐衍祺, BSc (Eng) 1980, MSc (Eng) 1985" " 四月的某一天, 收到今年的驗身報告, 還是老樣子, 應高的不高, 應低的不低, 醫生說 : 小心 回到家裏, 太太 Wendy 說收到 HKU Walking Challenge 的電郵, 建議我們一起參加, 太太說 : 恆心 五月的第一天, 步行月的第一步, 湊巧在南太平洋一個小島上開展, 島名復活節島, 那天我們各行了約二萬步,Wendy 說 : 若能持之以恆, 您可以復活了 五月廿九日, 我們 Toronto Walkers 大聚會, 感受到大家的興奮和健康的笑聲, 丹田之氣充沛十足, 持續步行, 果然是靈丹妙藥 想起了當年金句, 冥冥中自有靈光一刹, 由此普渡眾生 感謝 HKU Walking Challenge, 您就是這道靈光, 指引我們步出彩虹! 感謝 Toronto Walkers 全體隊員, 沒有大家的互相鼓勵, 我這個月沒可能行了三十多萬步, Wendy 也不可能行了四十萬步 與您們同行, 是我們的幸運! 天長地久有時盡, 持續步行無了期,Toronto Walkers 共勉之! Kwan Tak Ching 關德正,BSc (Eng) 1981 Lam Man Ying Wendy 林敏瑩,BSocSc 1982" "There are so many quotes about the benefit of walking such as walking is the most ancient exercise and still the best modern exercise, An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day, Thoughts come clearly while one walks and so on. However, not until you really are doing it, you cannot actually enjoy the benefits. Many thanks to the HKU Alumni Walking Challenges initiative which triggers so many of us to get into walking. Very likely, our Toronto Walkers walking team including our immediate family will continue on the walking exercise after the challenge. Let s put in our effort to live a healthy life. For me, it is definitely a good start. Jimmy Tang Chi Man 鄧子文, BSc 1982"
" I was the last one who joined this walker group. Being an active sports player, I think it will be easy to reach 300K in a month. But after two weeks, I have the least number of steps within the group and far below the average of 10k per day. My family then starts suggesting me to walk to nearby grocery store, library and restaurant together instead of driving as we used to. I find it very enjoyable to walk leisurely with my family members in such a nice weather. I wish everyone can enjoy a leisure walk with your loved one every day. Steve Fung Suet Ming, B.Sc 1982 " " 四月初剛剛退下工作線, 正值組隊步行, 想不到一向不愛運動的愛妻也一口應承参加 當知道目標是每日要行一萬步, 就開始有壓力好擔心 五月開始, 每日想盡辦法為了達標 : 行山, 觀鳥, 逛商場, 走 treadmill, 附近的公園都給我倆走遍 有時三更半夜, 就到零晨時, 太太知道尚未夠數, 立即從電腦前彈起, 在客廳氹氹轉, 氹氹轉, 臨尾衝刺 當到達一萬步就停止, 又再坐回到電腦前 五月將盡, 太太發覺數年來長期奮鬥的目標, 居然可以一個月內達到 ( 減磅三磅 ), 實在太高興了 佢的終身幸福, 終於實現了 真係要多謝 HKU Walking Challenge Cheng Lai Ying Edmond, 鄭禮英,B. Soc. Sc. 1985 Lee Shuk Hing, 李淑興,B. Sc. (Comp. Studies) 1985" " I got a fitness tracker more than a year ago but I failed to meet the 10,000 steps per day goal from time to time. Thanks to the HKU Walking Challenge and the Toronto Walkers, I am able to become a 300K club member in 26 days! The peer pressure always works. The team spirit has motivated me to leave my office desk or my comfortable home to walk no matter how busy (and how lazy) I am. I have navigated different routes and walked through most parts of the University of Toronto campus and my neighborhood in the last 31 days. It s a blessing to establish a healthy lifestyle with friends from the HKU family in Toronto. Let s extend this challenge after May and aim to walk around the globe together. Three cheers to Toronto Walkers! Alice Chow Hoi Yan 周凱欣 BFin 1998; MEcon 2001" Thank you to HKU for allowing us to participate in such a meaningful program!
Kadoorie Centre Location: Hong Kong 我們是嘉道理中心隊 (Kadoorie Centre, Walker ID: T1240 T1249), 隊員全是大學的員工, 當大家知道有這個 { 步行挑戰. 環繞地球 } 時反應踴躍, 活動既有共同目標, 又是日常生活可做到, 便攜手組隊參加 在活動的四星期裏, 隊員的步數每星期都有增加, 士氣高昂 隊員在空閒時間填寫報數紙, 而話題環繞去甚麽地方行山 散步 運動, 甚至多行幾間商舖格價以增加步行時間 隊員分享 : 1. 之前間中忘記帶手提電話離家, 與家人失去聯絡, 自參加這活動後, 離家時必定記得帶手提電話以記錄步數 ; 2. 住所附近有休閒步行設施, 但很少前往使用, 自參加這活動後, 常常與家人前往散步, 既可達到每天步行的目標, 又可享受家庭樂 ; 3. 即使要追看某電視劇集, 都先落附近公園完成訂定的步行目標才回家收看 ; 4. 有隊員覺得為期一個月的活動很快過去, 大學還有相類似的活動嗎? 總括在這一個月的活動, 大家增加溝通而促進同事間感情 ; 大家已養成步行習慣, 不 會因活動結束而停下來, 只會有 唔行唔安樂 的感覺 嘉道理中心隊 3 Jun 18 Thanks very much for the effort of the event organizer as we all enjoy so much during the WALKING MONTH!
Melbourne Walkers Location: Melbourne, Australia Our team name is Melbourne Walkers and we are members and friends of the HKU Alumni Association of Victoria, Australia. There are 10 of us (unfortunately 2 members couldn t join us in the photo) comprising graduates from 1970s to 2010s. There s also a member who is currently in Melbourne for the exchange program. We were very excited and grateful for the opportunity to join other members of the HKU extended family globally for this Walking Challenge! Sylvia Chiang ( Sylvia Wong BA 1984) Secretary of HKU Alumni Association of Victoria, Australia
DEMStars Location: Hong Kong DEMStars is so called as the team comprises of HKU graduated walkers from Drainage, Electrical & Mechanical Services and their colleagues. We do enjoy the HKU Walking Challenge most and have experienced a memorable month of May 2018. During this month, some teammates who have just retired and joint a cruise trip to Alaska kept walking on the deck of the cruise ship or jogged around the towns they visited to earn more steps for the Challenge. Whilst in Hong Kong, a teammate walked around the sewage treatment plant diligently to inspect the operation and maintenance works before flying to Easter Island in end May to continue the challenge of walking around the world with the Pukao at Ahu Nau Nau under the galaxy stars of the beautiful milky way. For the electrical and mechanical engineer of the team, walking up and down the hill on Lantau and buildings to inspect mechanical installations is part of his job and he found no difficulty in filling the steps for the Challenge. He broke his record high of more than 24,000 steps and 129 floors on one of the days in May. The winner of the team was the only one female walker. She kept walking to and fro between home and office every day, saving her some money to visit shopping malls and leading those men finally. Our aim and goal on keeping fit while extending our vision and network through participation in this event have been fully achieved. We exceed our target of more than 3 million steps. Thanks the Centre of Sports and Exercise of HKU!
Met in Aussie, Walk in Unity MSGHK Location: Hong Kong Six years ago, we were isolated walkers in the University searching for knowledge and wisdom. Eight brave and ambitious walkers decided to step out of their home town, cross the equator, and further their studies through the HKUWW exchange program in Australia, where their paths crossed and their lifelong walking journey began. Stepped through red deserts, verdant jungles and coastal boardwalks in the magical continent, we returned home and reunited today in one of the most picturesque hiking trails in Sai Kung - Lung Ha Wan Country Trail - in support of the HKU Walking Challenge. This short walk not only boosts our steps for the challenge, but also reminds us of our lifelong companionship as we walk on and cope with future challenges. Together we walk and ROCK!!
MBA Walkers Location Hong Kong I feel proud of our MBA Walkers team who has contributed 3,646,632 steps out of 463,355,301 steps achieved by HKU community in total under HKU Walking Challenge: Around the World organized by HKU s Centre of Sports and Exercise; We ranked No. 17 and No. 37 in terms of average steps and total steps respectively. Big applause to my teammates, including Amy Hau, Debby Chen, Geeseok Oh, Joe He, Hagan Wong, Ringo Tse, Sidney Lou, Will Yu, Yoshiaki Fukushima, as every step matters! As one of the new class representatives for HKU MBA part-time year 1 who enjoy various meaningful, interesting and challenging activities, I was thinking of creating some activities that can facilitate bonding among our classmates. The timing of this event was just perfect as a good start! Response was surprisingly positive with 9 other seats filled shortly after my message sent to group chat of our year 1 class. I am glad that this event formed a little channel for 10 of us with different backgrounds yet similar mindsets to get to know one another better through joining this healthy and meaningful event together. The usual steps per day among our team vary. It was encouraging to see how team members contributed by motivating and supporting one another to achieve more steps than before during the whole month of May 2018.
We shared useful tips within our group regularly. Some team members tried to walk more by getting off one or two bus stops earlier to the destination than before. Some tried to walk more or went gym more often in early morning, during lunch time, after work, and even during business and personal trips. Some even made up target steps at home by continuing to carry the devices after long work hours at late night. As my team are all part-time year 1 MBA students who are professionals with busy schedule and different personal engagements, I feel grateful for everyone to strive their best to achieve more steps in this super-hot May 2018! Together, we definitely can achieve more! Thanks to all my teammates for taking up this 31-day challenge with me to build up a better habit and to pursue a healthier life! Nevertheless, our participation has enabled HKU to become the first University in Hong Kong to virtually walk around the world for 7 times! Keep it up everyone! Samantha Pei Team Captain of MBA Walkers
HKU Shanghai Alumni Team 1 and Team 2 Location: Shanghai Everyone knows how difficult it is to get a bunch of working adults organized and committed to an event that lasts for a month. This is especially true for HKU alumni in Shanghai because our alumni are spread over so many years and so many disciplines. Such diversity also means that when we do band together, we are invincible! Those of us in Shanghai called for participation so we can enter one team but we ended up with two! We are 17 strong with graduation year ranging from 1983 to 2015, covering Arts, Science, Engineering, Social Sciences, BBA,... We come together not just to support the cause of exercise for health, but also to raise charitable funds through extra efforts. Among the team we aimed to achieve an average of 10,000 steps for each member and set up a wechat group to encourage each other. While it looks like a modest target, one will quickly realise it s difficult to reach without changing one s daily routine. In the month of May, our members have traveled around the world, joined a triathlon, picked up new habits of late night or early morning walking throughout Shanghai, and took all the opportunities we could think of to maximize the number of steps (for example having outdoor walking sessions instead of sit down meeting with clients or colleagues). We shared tips and pictures that we took when walking and made good friends. To encourage team members to walk more, we came up with prizes for the member with the most steps, and punishments for the five members with the least steps. The carrots and sticks made the event even more fun and exciting.
Last but not least, through a parallel activity we raised over RMB45,000 for donation to the HKU Shanfhai Alumni Arts Centre for Children in Shanghai. This is a local initiative intended to offer better education to children with developmental challenges. Our 17 team members agreed that our quest for walking 10,000 everyday will not stop, and we will continue to encourage one another.
Eddie Cheung Location: Hong Kong
Lai Hui Pong Location: Nepal I am a year 4 student studying medicine in HKU. I am hiking to the Everest Base camp in Nepal during the programme time. I believe that it would be a great way to spend my holiday by taking some challenge. This programme has helped me to set a target to be active everyday. As a medical student, I always believe that exercise is the best medicine. It would be better to keep a healthy body in order to keep oneself away from disease than treat the disease when it arise. Not only is the physical health but also the mental health can be maintained by being physical active. That's why I feel that the programme is a great idea.
Yulee Yan Location: Hong Kong First to introduce myself. I am a graduate of MLIM in 2006. I joined this event is because a very simple reason... I love doing exercise and I fully support doing exercise as a habit and living healthy too. I like all sorts of exercise, like running, swimming, going to gym, hiking, fishing, ball games like badminton, netball, golf... etc I have regular workout habit like almost 5-6 times a week. As I work in primary school and get off work at 4pm, so I have quite a lot of free time to achieve my workout target.
Active Health Clinic Walking on Sunshine Location: Hong Kong (The Organizer) Was great to see such an overwhelming response to our HKU Walking Challenge of which we would not be practicing what we preach without entering our own team. Leading by example, we certainly wanted to help HKU reach its goal of traversing the world. With our team of seven, we personally wanted to also challenge ourselves to see if we could improve on our total from last year! It was a welcome conundrum in that the more participants we had for the challenge the more time that was spent sitting analyzing data and responding to enquiries. This meant that we had to work even harder and find the time to be more physically active. Even for those that actively promote physical activity it is always an eye opener to see how little we actually move without making a conscious effort. But at the end of the day if something is worth doing, a little effort goes a long way, and being physically active is something that is worth doing! Congratulations to all that took part in the challenge and we look forward to having a more active and healthy HKU campus!